118 mining conflicts in 15 countries in Latin America

Tue, 02 Feb 2010

One study shows that there are 118 mining conflicts in 15 countries in Latin America.

Mining projects involving hundreds of Latin American communities. Currently, of the 337 mining projects in the region, 139 are in conflict with different communities. This is what reveals the Database Mining Conflicts in Latin America.

One study shows that there are 118 mining conflicts in 15 countries in Latin America.

Mining projects involving hundreds of Latin American communities. Currently, of the 337 mining projects in the region, 139 are in conflict with different communities. This is what reveals the Database Mining Conflicts in Latin America.

La Base de Dados, on the initiative of the Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA) and Executive Coordination Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (OCMAL) is an information system for community management of social and environmental conflict in the region miners latinoamericana.

So far, 118 organizations reported mining conflicts in 15 countries in the region, which affect 150 communities. Under the system, the Brazilian communities are most affected by the activity: 21 projects, 37 companies, generating 21 conflicts in 34 communities.

According to the Observatory, conflicts occur by the intervention of 190 companies - mostly subsidiaries of multinationals - which work in different countries of the region. Besides Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic suffer with the problem.

The Database of Mining Conflicts in Latin America is designed to provide organizations, institutions, communities and stakeholders, information on the conflicts in the region. The idea is, with this, follow the actions of mining companies in Latin America, especially for projects, conflicts, strategies of intimidation, criminalization, corruption and cooptation of communities and leaders.

The Center established that from this information, communities can better manage their conflicts with employers. Besides the number of conflicts, the system presents information documents related to incidents reported, such as regulator, concerned, initiator, action, legislation, documentation in general and the criminalization of protest. In relation to the mining project, database and business documents added partners.

However, the Center emphasizes that the basis is not yet fully complete, with information missing in some cases. The expectation is that soon the present system of other countries information and records of all conflicts.

You can query the database of Mining Conflicts in Latin America by clicking here.